Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1887-06-30
s.s.r. ETER,scHUnoH
!. AmerIs Travellers yir.s ~.

Hon. d. N. Richardson, editor i, s
Davenport, Iowa, Democrat
rom Rome:
! Are you coming to Rome? If =
to see it ali, to compass its s.
Rces-spiri.ual and civil; to pns~
its antiquities, to know 4
and breath of Rome IN ~
aud figures, come early, come to j.
Come well braced for disappointmss
-for when you have spent your A..
short life of twenty, thirty,
Years, you will know SO little, lact :
much that you will shirk to look -
neighbor in the face.
] envy, quite, the man who hash.
in Rome three days and tells 3
has seer it all! like him for hin e
durate. blissful ignorance; that Il.
of hopeless mental vacancy that 81
bids responsibility. and wish he ro,lz
write q book on Rome, for he eo.ss
only make q failure. as all have a.
before.
You come to Rome. First thin.
You take a bit to eat. ordss
vehicle. You are going out to do &
take it in. .Where
you drive? Nine times o;t
ten the pilgrim says "st. Peter
church."
"a San Peatro" speaks of youy -
ter to the whip. and of you 30. 4
through close narrow streets
in with tall, tawny, stnecos
houses-the houses are stores g.
and dwellings. all combipe3
o the Bridge Of Ans
in a trance, you pass the cast,s e.
cello in a daze, you squeeze in thron5i
the Borgo in an anxious state -
great Saint Peters yon =
crushed. You hunt your stock /
words. They are insists. Youtrv !
tell your thoughts. They are tor !,
significant; you alight, stare At a
eollonades, the great ambitious founf
aims; the hieroglyphic obeIisk: tn,
turn and go inside. Ifyou are wiseve.ss
say no foolish thing, for you'll ~
your mouth shut. You cannotu nds35
stand a thing you see; the distances e
great and overcome you; the heiphs
are lofty-room in any corner to tnsf
away your village church and new
miss the space it takes; the floor
wide spread of colored marbles: thz
piers and columns, inches, statue1
eherubs-everything so out of all m
portions that you have ever ser
that you cannot take it in or scarcd1
find your tongue.
You will join the crowd, maybe. aud
you will 80 to the great bronze canon
and look upon the many lighted lamns
gaze up above the clouds and find
heavens very high and overwrourAz
with rows of saints-tier on tier. NH
Christ and Mary where the sun shoui
be. You hear church music som
where round-intoned service Sons
where here-but not a congregation
sight-the great floor space is free 4
though some hundreds oipeo
pie wander about just as you do: nj
wonder where the singing is, and 60 1
find it-go to hunt among the pien
about the aisies and chapels-fnd
at last way of one sids-mere chan
service-scarcely any people there.
But look you-look about-ths
little chapel you see here is larger tha
any church, perhaps, you have eys
worshipped in; its dome mounts d
two hundred feet OF more; its floor
costly marble work; its alter code
bronze and p;ecious stones; its pid
lures masters works. SMALL ID
but put all the people into it that I'd
find in your average church at nom
and they will yet leave room fer quit
as many more Nothing is small ksu5
Stay here weeks and come here for 1
hour each day. and it will grow-taa
form and shape, and you viii get 4
customed 1t hardly seems the wofI
of man; morel like a vast majestic cad
arranged by supernatural hands
cathedral of the gods. The work
man could be described so man cd
understand-this passes all deseri1
tion-passeth understanding. 10
may pace it off-go around its Out
wall, and those OF its annexes, and q
joined rooms of the Vatican, andt6
walk is longer than that which COZ
passes the walls OF the city of Jeruse
lem! You trudge up to the top I'd
walk about the streets OF houses th1
the great paved roof looks like . d
.lsge-street and public s~quare-hom
for the workingmen, a liberal force !
keep things in repair. The lofty cha
ell domes that spring up through
roof are so many small temples
kiosks. The grand old central doz
that mounts up there beyond this
dy village, is the August cathedral
round, as was cathedral sEapein ed
pagan--early Christian times.
wander here at leisure, look up alaa
the eighteen feet back of the Saved
and the saints that from your roc
village wall look down into the sixs
acre opensquare that fronts the gre
Saint Peters; stray round
sturdy parapets, climb on ~
Their up and up towards the su1
From down below you saw a lttl
ball-an ornament on the splre--m
below the top. It's bigger than got
head, and coming nearer, it groN
bigger and bigger yet; and when yc
get up to it, it's big enough to let yo
in-you and your wife and childrrn7
uncles, aunts, and visitors. II all =
good sized, sixteen can get IN az
more of big and little.
From the lantern railing just beIo7
you II ny sit and see the world Ne!
below, are mites, and palaces g
children's playhouse toysf Fro
here you look straight down into y
Tiber-down into streets and puoa
squares of Rome as you look upon
map-as you look from q balloo<
You may count from O.
the other Roman Churches
hundred, two, three-three hundrs
and sixty-fve-all in full blast-tne
doors stand open every day. e
many OF these are costly miracles
marble, fresco, bronze and palnee
scene; mosaics rare and preclos
stones, and gid and CLINT OF isHsl1
In olden times, those times OF pasa.
dom. the temples were the banks
which men of means could keep fns
bank accountable priests the e
cashiers, who had not heard OF MOI
real. These present flames you may
post in, as many a one has Iee
done, but no checks are honored ne!
These churches here have much Of
terest-each has its private, euro
history-each picture, saint and chs
Ell has it's tale to tell, and sorle z
curious to find them OFT; but ias
too short-we see withiHa church
two, and leave the rest behind.